Lucas Torreira will be one of the last of Arsenal’s World Cup players to rejoin the squad when he flies over to Europe on Monday, but he will have to have his fitness assessed and some team training before playing so is very unlikely to make his debut against Chelsea in Dublin next Wednesday.
He may get some game time against Lazio next Saturday in preparation for the season opener against Man City the weekend after, but according to Torreira’s old coach at Pesara, Marcello Donatelli, it will be worth the wait. “His technique, his determination and his tactical intelligence always impressed me,” Donatelli said.
“He has always been strong in understanding those defensive tactical aspects and he is very mature tactically in terms of how he reads the game. He can cope with the gaps that emerge in midfield with great intelligence and he covers very well. He is the one who corrects the spaces and cuts out the passes between the lines in the defensive phase.
“After Sergio Busquets, he is tactically the strongest midfielder in Europe.”
Considering he is only 22 that is a big claim to make, but at least it can give us Arsenal fans something to look forward to, especially as we have all been crying out for a top defensive midfielder for many years.
Could he be the final piece of the jigsaw that gets Arsenal challenging for the title again?
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I would be ecstatic if he can reach Busquets’ level, the best DM Barcelona ever have. If he has double-lung stamina and high work rate like Kante, two times MOTM in World Cup, I believe Arsenal would at least get back to Champions League next season
A good DM is very important, but the attackers have to press the opponents as well
I think Emery would not allow any player slacking off in the field. At his PSG, even Neymar, Mbappe and Cavani were forced to always press the opponents
What worries me is his lack of height,how do we defend set pieces which has been our ‘problem’ for awhile….
The only towering defender we have is Mavropanos, whereas Mustafi, Sokratis and Chambers are not that tall. I like how Yerry Mina played in World Cup, but I don’t think Arsenal would add another CB
Among all midfielders that usually defend in set pieces, only Xhaka has a good height. So you are right, this is worrying if we compare them with the competitor players’ height
Not sure what you mean, Sokratis is 6″1, Mustafi 6″0 Chambers 6″0.
I thought Chambers was taller than both of them, he looks taller, he certainly jumps higher.
Set-pieces have not be out problem for a while, this is just a complete myth perpetrated by the media and pundits. If you actually look at our stats last season we conceded the second least number of goals from set-pieces in the entire league.
Please stop regurgitating these myths without actually looking into the statistics.
* Sorry, we’re actually second least for corners, but 5th least from all set-pieces.
D, here we go again, fake news that our fans swallow whole!!!!!
??If the incoming players like Torreira, combined with Emery’s coaching address Arsenal’s away form the 2018/19 season should be positive. Hopefully a champion team rather than a team of champions.
Yerry Mina wants to join arsenal…i wouldn’t mind having a black tall beast in our defence…he is still young and could be another koulibaly
Yerry Mina is awful…
I agree with you
have seen Mina play a lot here on Brazil, hes terrible
If he were that good Barça would keep him
He is what we’ve been missing for so long…. I can’t wait to see him in the line up, whether it’s friendly or not!
You have been missing all the players in the world for sooooo long, ‘laugh ” let’s see what these ones can do this season
Just to think a world class defensive midfielder is in the arsenal ranks makes me so happy & proud,I tell y’all mates if this guy were to be in a rival team we’d all have beeen jealous and wishful.happy times ahead but to complete it, I hope we bring in a good winger.I wish we’d let Ramsey go and get us a midfielder in the mould of debruyne/Silva/Eriksson.In all my Ramsey days I’ve only celebrated him 2ce (fa cup final& against Liverpool)the rest?hmm… the best I’d have Ramsey for is to be on my bench.
This smith Rowe boy is going to makes us proud.& pls he is not the new “anybody” he is Emile smith-rowe first of his kind!
what makes torriera a world class dm?bcoz he signed for afc?
What makes Torreira good for Arsenal under Emery is his tactical acumen and something Arsenal have lacked since Arteta (which is ironic given how many didn’t rate Arteta.) That said Torreira was available for 22 mil we paid over that to spread it over multiple years (and budgets) because apparently we are poor or more likely board won’t allow spending and the only way the Trident could get around that was to spread a 22 mil payment which is sad when we made a profit last year in transfers and tv deals have never been so good.
Still he was available for 22 mil. United with Matic already bought Fred for 53 mil. Liverpool with Henderson bought Fabinho for 40 mil. City/Chelsea with Fernandinho/Kante competed to buy Jorginho for 51 mil. All were aware Torriera was available for 22 mil and all were looking for DMs. Arsenals competition for the cheaper Torreira? Napoli because Jorginho was going City/Chelsea. So I agree the hype over the cheapest option when so many clubs went for DMs is a bit much. We as a club are bottom feeding and it’s a Kronke directive acted out by Gazidas. Wenger excused it but we hired a manager more suited to those constraints which is positive but still someone who will excuse the board when it comes to these things.
NO because of his statistics in Serie A.
Hidden stats?
DM requires a player with stamina mobile a good tackler and ability on the ball is key,well Toreirra ticks all those boxes.I know we got him because all the top teams in EPL and in Europe have good defensive mid fielders otherwise we he would have been snapped away
Toilet Tottenham hot spurs stadium is bigger than Emirates,
The spuds do not have a stadium. They have a spud hole.
A spudule…
Emery said Iwobi will sign a new contract.
Hopefully Emery will get more out of Iwobi then Wenger did.
I hope that goes for everyone esp Iwobi, Xhaka, El Neny, Welbeck, Ramsey, Bellerin and Mustafi. They need to improve season.
They need to improve from last season.
Kante Of Chelsea Is Short And Play So Well, That It Is Difficult For Opponet To Beat To The Ball Either Air Or Ground, What We Need From Torriera Is To Be An Intellegent Player Like Kante.
The men we see is Fabinho, Matic, Kante/Jordinho, Ferdinho, Dier and now Torreira.
Of this bunch there is a fair few men who are top billing. It won’t be seen externally the tackles they make but there break down and release work.
Torreira for arsenal needs to be unsung hero without too much hype on him. Let him get on. He’s only 22 yrs old.
All I can say is, against At. Madrid we missed a player in that role.
I think he will be a good player for Arsenal. He’ll certainly show up a few if they play like they’ve played over the last few seasons. Only ones who give it their all or try to give it, are Ramsey, was Alexis, was Cazorla, was Wilshere, Koscielny, Monreal, am struggling to think of more. The team looks a little different now with our attacking options, and I reckon Torriera and Ramsey will look well suited in midfield as both of them hunt and hound all match long. Young Guendouzi looks useful already, that’s good, Smith Rowe turned 18 so we might see some more of himself Nketiah and AMN. All we need now unless we sign some more, is our young defenders to take the bit by their teeth.
Torreira our most important new player.
Pray he is injury free, and can be the rock we need in midfield!